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Rethinking the Turkish Center-Right in 1990S: Erosion Or Replacement? - the Case of the Nationalist Action Party

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Rethinking the Turkish Center-Right in 1990S: Erosion Or Replacement? - the Case of the Nationalist Action Party RETHINKING THE TURKISH CENTER-RIGHT IN 1990S: EROSION OR REPLACEMENT? - THE CASE OF THE NATIONALIST ACTION PARTY - A Master’s Thesis by YUSUF GÖZÜKÜÇÜK Department of Political Science and Public Administration Bilkent University Ankara January 2001 To my Mother and To the memory of my Father RETHINKING THE TURKISH CENTER-RIGHT IN 1990S: EROSION OR REPLACEMENT? - THE CASE OF THE NATIONALIST ACTION PARTY - The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by YUSUF GÖZÜKÜÇÜK In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION in THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BILKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA January 2001 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration ----------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Ergun Özbudun Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration ----------------------------------- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jeremy Salt Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration ----------------------------------- Assis. Prof. Dr. Ömer Faruk Gençkaya Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences ----------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Kürşat Aydoğan Director ABSTRACT RETHINKING THE TURKISH CENTER-RIGHT IN 1990S: EROSION OR REPLACEMENT? - THE CASE OF THE NATIONALIST ACTION PARTY - Yusuf Gözüküçük M.A., Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ergun Özbudun January 2001 Looking at the results of the elections in Turkey in the 1990s, it can be seen that there has been a continuing decrease in the votes of the traditional Turkish center- right parties such as the Motherland Party (MP) and the True Path Party (TPP) while a converse situation has been observed in the case of extreme right parties such as the Nationalist Action Party (NAP) and the Welfare Party (WP). Another striking point about the voter alignments in Turkey during the last decade has been that no party has been the first party in successive elections. These developments led to the questions about whether the Turkish center is eroding, or the extreme right parties are coming to the center. The aim of this thesis is to attempt to clarify the case of Turkish center-right in the last decade in the sense whether there has been a shift in the center-right votes with the erosion of the center or replacement of the center right is taking place, with special emphasis on the case of the Nationalist Action Party. This thesis argues that there has been erosion in the Turkish center-right in the last decade and the NAP obtained some votes from the traditional center-right voters, while maintaining its own voter basis. This study offers explanations for the erosion of the traditional Turkish center-right together with the rise of the NAP in recent years both as a political party and as a political movement. Keywords: Nationalist Action Party, NAP, Idealist Movement, Turkish Nationalism, Center, Center-right, Turkish Center-right, Turkish Center-right Political Parties. iii ÖZET 1990’LI YILLARDA TÜRK MERKEZ SAĞINI YENİDEN DÜŞÜNMEK: ERİME Mİ YOKSA KAYMA MI? - MİLLİYETÇİ HAREKET PARTİSİ’NİN DURUMU - Yusuf Gözüküçük Master, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ergun Özbudun Ocak 2001 Türkiye’de 1990’lardaki seçim sonuçlarına baktığımızda Anavatan Partisi (ANAP) ve Doğruyol Partisi (DYP) gibi geleneksel merkez sağ partilerin oylarında sürekli bir düşüş olduğunu, buna karşın Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP) ve Refah Partisi (RP) gibi aşırı partilerin oylarında ise bir artış olduğunu görmekteyiz. Yine geçen on yılda hiç bir partinin bir birini takip eden iki seçimden üstüste birinci parti olarak çıkamayışı, seçmen tercihlerinin durumu açısından bir diğer çarpıcı noktadır. Bu gelişmeler, Türk Merkez Sağı eriyor mu yoksa aşırı partiler merkeze mi geliyor şeklinde sorulara yol açmaktadır. Bu tezin amacı, Türk Merkez Sağının geçen on yıldaki durumunu, bir erime ya da eldeğiştirmeyle merkez sağda kayma olup olmadığı bağlamında, özellikle MHP üzerinde durarak açıklamaya çalışmaktır. Bu çalışmaya göre, 1990’larda Türk Merkez Sağında bir erime gerçekleşmiş ve MHP kendi oylarını tutarken geleneksel merkez sağ seçmeninden de oy almıştır. Bu çalışma, MHP son yıllarda hem bir siyasi parti ve hem de bir siyasi hareket olarak yükselirken, geleneksel Türk Merkez Sağının erimesine bir takım açıklamalar getirmeye çalışmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP, Ülkücü Hareket, Türk Milliyetçiliği, Merkez, Merkez Sağ, Türk Merkez Sağı, Türk Merkez Sağ Siyasi Partileri iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Prof Dr. Ergun Özbudun, for his continuing guidance, encouragement, and enthusiasm, which he inspired on me during this study. He also reviewed early drafts, provided materials and suggestions. I am indebted to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jeremy Salt and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ömer Faruk Gençkaya, who have read and reviewed this thesis, their help and lenience made it possible. I am also indebted to Prof. Dr. Stanford J. Shaw and Assoc. Prof. Lauren M. McLaren, who have also commented on some chapters of this study. I cannot fully express my gratitude and appreciation to Ms. Kristina Smith for her kind help both during the corrections of this study and for her initial guidance for my steps towards academic life. I have to also express my gratitude and credit to Hakkı Öznur, who has provided me with invaluable resources and comments on Nationalist Movement in Turkey, and Türker Yörükçüoğlu for his comments and moral support during the preparation of this study. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Emre Arslan and Yelda Şahin, who have let me the chance of sharing their priceless resources. I would like to thank Murat Çemrek both for his comments and for his typing some parts of this thesis, and Güvenay Kazancı for her patience to our endless questions in this process. With appreciation to the many friends including M. İsmail Cindemir, Metin Alıklı, Doğan Demir, Ferruh Parmaksız and Cemalettin Haşimi whose patience and moral support has made this possible. With apologies to the many I have regrettably failed to mention above. My special thanks go to my family who provided continuing support for my study. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ iii ÖZET .........................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................................vi LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................1 CHAPTER II: CENTER-RIGHT: CONCEPTUALIZATION....................5 2.1 Center-Right Politics ....................................................................................5 2.1.1 The Center and the Center-right...........................................................7 2.2 The Center Right Politics in Turkey...........................................................13 2.2.1 Center in Turkish Politics...................................................................14 CHAPTER III: THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TURKISH CENTER-RIGHT.............................................................................17 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................17 3.2 The Roots of the Turkish Center-Right in the Pre-Republican Era............19 3.3 The Turkish Center-right During the Single-party Period .........................21 3.4 The Turkish Center-right Between 1945-1980...........................................24 3.5 The Turkish Center-right in the Post-1980 Era ..........................................29 3.6 Conclusion..................................................................................................35 CHAPTER IV: THE NATIONALIST ACTION PARTY IN TURKISH POLITICS: PAST, PRESENT ...........................................................................36 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................36 4.2 Ideology of the NAP...................................................................................37 4.2.1 The Origins: Pan-Turkism..................................................................38 4.2.2 The Turkist Movements During the Republican Era .........................38 vi 4.2.3 The Emergence of a Nationalist Political Party .................................40 4.2.4 Some Prominent Figures in the NAP’s History .................................41 4.3 Alparslan Türkeş and the ‘Nine Lights’ .....................................................43
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